Photo from “The Monkey at the Wedding” in Massachusetts

The cast of The Monkey At the Wedding. From right to left,Top row: Father of Bride, Groom, Best man, Minister, Granny, Monkey, Mother of bride.Bottom row: Pluto, Mother of groom, Zoe, Maid of Honor, Fatima, and the Bride.

Here is the cast photo from the first day of rehearsal for my one-act THE MONKEY AT THE WEDDING, which will be produced in May at Acton-Boxborough Regional High School in Acton, Massachusetts.

This will be the world premiere.

Now, for an interesting story. I wrote the script several years ago, inspired by a local news story about a man who was trying to find a monkey to be ringbearer at his wedding. Don’t think he ever found one, though.

The director in Acton contacted me out of the blue — thanks, search engine! — and asked for some possible scripts. Eventually, she settled on this one.

Except, after auditions she had a problem. The show had a cast of 12 but she had 13 kids audition and she didn’t have the heart to turn one away. We bounced about some ideas, about splitting some characters in two but eventually settled on just writing in a 13th character. So I did.

I might mention that this “task mistress” of a director is a 9th grader. Bravo!

THE MONKEY AT THE WEDDING
A wedding goes afoul when the ringbearer — a monkey — swallows the ring. Chaos, and comedy, ensues. Features a motorcycle gang, and someone in a monkey suit. Cast: 12 or 13 — 5 male, 5 or 6 female, 2 non-gender. Running time: 30 minutes.

Upcoming:
* March 25-27: Production of HAMLET GOES HOLLYWOOD, High Meadows School, Roswell, Georgia.
* May 1: THE MONKEY AT THE WEDDING, Acton-Acton-Boxborough Regional High School, Acton, Massachusetts.

Dwayne Yancey is a playwright from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. He’s had scripts produced throughout the United States, Canada, Great Britain and other locations abroad. For more on his work, contact him directly at dwayneyancey@gmail.com.